THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



527 



grew a much larger quantity, and that others who never 

 cultivated a swede before had now large fields well 

 managed, ilo regretted they did not use more artificial 

 manure to their turnips; for the more and better the 

 stock they kept, tbe better would be their manure 

 heaps and corn stacks. With regard to good implements, 

 "seeing" was "believing," lie could assure them that in 

 every instance after they had seen the implements so very 

 kindly given by Lady Edwards as prizes, he had been applied 

 to, to get more like them. Last year three or four more 

 turnip cutters like those gained by Richard Evens were pur- 

 chased in the neighbourhood. As to the cattle, there was an 

 improvement, hut not so great as he could wish to see. They 

 wanted to go further from home for better blood ; they kept a 

 very useless number of bulls. There were thirteen oa the 

 river side between Cemmes village and Dovey-bridge. He 

 thought it would be more paying to keep half the number of 

 animals inatead of having two not worth more than £10. 

 They should club together, and give twenty guineas at least 

 for one good one. And if they would like to carry out his 

 suggestion he would gladly give a prize of £5 to any farmer 

 who would give not less than £25 for a good Hereford bull not 

 bred within thirty miles of Machynlleth, if the judges at our 

 next show consider it worthy of the prize. 



Mr, O.Jones said he would urge upon them all the im- 

 portance of paying greater attention to the cultivation of 

 turnips ; he believed that nothing would pay them better in 

 the long run. He could see with pleasure as he rode along 

 the country that there was a decided improvement out of doors, 

 the growing of green crops, &c., being much more extensive 

 than in former years. There was yet room, however, for im- 

 provement ; and he had the most sanguine hopes that the 

 future would be fruitful with still greater results. He should 

 be glad to see more of the excellent implements, exhibited by 

 Mr. Halford on that occasion, introduced generally amongst 

 the tenant-farmers. The labour would be essentially diminished 

 for themselves, and the trifling outlay would soon be returned 

 fifty-fold to the purchaser. These are days of progress ; and 

 for a Welsh agriculturist to hope to compete with his Saxon 

 neighbour, having his improved implements in the way of 

 horse and steam power, with his antiquated ploughs, harrows, 

 &c., would be as hopeless as for a manufacturer, with his 

 hand-loom and ancient sorting process, to compete with his 

 modern machinery under tbe influence of steam, which works 

 wonders, and which was beyond the comprehensioa of our 

 simple forefathers. 



Mr. Miller said there was a decided improvement on 

 what had appeared at the society's first meeting, which he had 

 had the pleasure to attend. Their stock was upon the whole 

 good, though he certainly would encourage them to introduce 

 more of the Hereford breed of cattle into their stock. Their 

 sheep had no particular characteristic ; it was a kind of ad- 

 mixture of all sorts, which, in fact) was no breed at all. Let 

 them endeavour to preserve cattle as much as possible. What- 

 ever the breed may be, it should be kept distinct. They would 

 find this plan, if adopted, to answer. Their fields of turnips 

 were not so large as they supposed they were. What they 

 supposed to be an "acre" was often found, when properly 

 measured, to be no more than three-quarters ; they conse- 

 quently supposed that they cultivated much more than they 

 actually did. Let them not be afraid of overdoing it ; for 

 nothing would answer them better than a good supply of 

 turnips, swedes, and mangolds. He criticised most severely 

 and most justly the neglected state of the farmers' hedges 

 and ditches in the country, which was a great defect in their 

 management, and which would entail great losses. 



THE PAST SEASON, AND THE ROOT CROP. 



At the Groombridoe Meeting 

 The chairman. Earl Uklawarr, said he had been afraid 

 that so unpropitious a summer would have cast a damp over 

 the spirits of those connected with agriculture, and that the 

 present meeting might have suffered in consequence. They 

 had had to go through a season which, he believed, was almos t 

 unexampled for severity. The continued wet weather had 

 caused great uneasiness and anxiety as to tbe result of the 

 harvest. Jt had pleased Provideuce at length to allow them 

 to gather in the fruits of the earth in more favourable condi- 

 tion than was at one time expected. They had had great 

 reason to apprehend that a very large quantity of corn in 

 England would have been much damaged and harvested in a 

 very inferior condition. They had been very properly ad- 

 monished that it was their duty to submit patieutly to the 

 dispensations of Providence ; not to despair, but to do all that 

 lay in their power to alleviate existing distress, and thus by 

 patient submission, and by a more lively gratitude than they 

 had exhibited in times of abundance, to render themselves 

 more worthy of future blessings. That they had no occasion 

 to despair would be at once evident if they formed a compari- 

 son between the results of the harvest in this part where agri- 

 culture had very much improved, and in those where it was 

 not in such a forward state. The result of his inquiries upon 

 the subject was that he had found where land had been deeply 

 drained and well cultivated and cleansed, the injury sustained 

 by the crops was by no means so great as where those opera- 

 tions had been less attended to. lie was told that where 

 land had been well drained for several years past, well cleansed 

 and kept free from weeds, '_the crops had been brought earlier 

 to maturity, and therefore suffered less from the influence of 

 the weather, as the farmers had been able to take more advan- 

 tage of the few opportunities offered by fine weather for gather- 

 ing in their corn. Those circumstances showed how very im- 

 portant it was that the cultivation of land should be strictly 

 attended to, and that deep draining especially should receive 

 more attention than it had yet done in this part of the country. 

 It would be found that in other parts of England, in the north 

 and midland counties, where the fields formerly produced in- 

 ferior crops of wheat, the agriculturists had, by means of deep 

 draining, rid the land of its superabundant moisture, and the 

 crops were now in some instances larger by a third. It was 

 thought that in this part drainage was not sufiiciently attended 

 to, but he hoped agriculturists would begin to see the great 

 advantage of it. With reference to the proceedings of that 

 day he was happy to state that the ploughing, though it could 

 not be considered to be better than any that had been pre- 

 viously done in connexion with that association, it was much 

 better than, from the nature of the weather, the judges had 

 been led to expect, the land on which the work was per- 

 formed having been found to be in a better condition than 

 was anticipated. Under these adverse circumstances, how- 

 ever, some of the cants had been admirably done, and would 

 bear a successful comparison with that in any other part of 

 England. Speaking on the subject of crops, he was reminded 

 that he was told the other day it was not advisable in this part 

 of the country to grow turnips in a wet season ; that crop in 

 this part was a very precarious one, although this year it was 

 a pretty good one, which was a convincing proof that they were 

 able to grow all kinds of turnips; and he was convinced that 

 many fields, described as being unfit to produce a crop of turnips, 

 would yield a very good one. As compired with turnips, 

 however, the mangel-wurzel was a certain crop, and he 

 thought the agriculturists in this part should rely more upon 

 it and less upon turnips ; this year the mangels had turned 



